Final Attempt
by ssfr
Summary: A ramble through a world that's falling, slowly, apart . . .
1. Final Attempt

Final Attempt  
A story by Suika Roberts, Saint of Eris Discordia  
Based on the manga by Takahashi Rumiko, without the permission of anyone.

---

"Great granddaughter, this is not a very good idea."

"I have heard what you say. However, I won't accept my failure yet. I have to try this at least once." Shanpoo stares back at her Great-grandmother, knowing the argument about this course of action like the back of her hand. The potion worked almost everytime, provided those involved were not so incompatible that even the overwhelming power of the spell could not bridge the gap. It was used in the village when a marriage was falling apart and nothing else could save it. Half the time the marriage dissolved in a minimum of pain, and the other half it rose again and danced.

"Remember that I warned you. If this fails you will give up on Ranma and we will return to China." **The eighteen months that the test was supposed to last expired half a year ago, and I am no longer honorbound to support this fool's quest. I warned them that this was not a wise re-wording; like the last time they didn't listen; we almost ended up a British `protectorate' then. If the British hadn't sent their ambassador's wife along they never would have believed me, and we would have been assimilated or killed.**

"Hai, Obaba." Shanpoo bows, then turns back to her food, tasting it one last time before adding the last ingredient, checking the label four times to make sure.

--

"Akane, I'm sorry, but I can't let you poison me anymore. There are three things one needs to do while cooking. First, one must know what one is doing, which means one needs to follow a recipe with no substitutions until one has some experience. Second, one must know what one is putting in. Does Kasumi add vinegar when she means oil or oil when she means water?" Akane shakes her head, "Last, one must taste what one is cooking as one adds ingredients, or the food won't be as good as it could be. When one is winging it, tasting the food is the only way to tell if it is going properly. You've watched Kasumi cook, right?" Akane nods, "Does she call you or Soun or Nabiki in to taste the food as she cooks it?" Akane shakes her head, "Of course not. She knows what she wants it to taste like, so she tastes it as she goes along." Shanpoo's sudden arrival throws him off track, but Ranma turns it to his advantage, "Shanpoo, when you cook do you taste the food as you go along to check how it is doing?"

"Of course. If not taste, how know did right."

"Could you demonstrate for Akane? I'm trying to teach her to cook at least as well as me, but hopefully better." Akane looks a bit happier with the addition of this last clause.

"Hai!" Shanpoo says brightly, glad to have her iinazuke ask for something. She pulls the bowl of ramen out of the delivery box, sets it on the table, pulls a pair of chopsticks out and takes a bite.

"See? You try it, Akane, and see that it tastes good." Akane goes along with this, and quickly takes a bite, neither of them noticing Shanpoo's suddenly worried expression.

A long moment passes with both Akane and Shanpoo being utterly silent. "That wasn't very smart my love."

"No, I can't say as it was."

"What are you two talking about?" Ranma is mildly bewildered by Shanpoo's sudden loss of her accent, and Akane's comment doesn't help. Akane reaches across the table and takes Shanpoo's hand, squeezing it lightly. Ranma hits quite bewildered.

"Shanpoo brought by a love potion. The only one that actually works that anyone has even heard of. Everyone who ingests it within a certain radius and within about five seconds is affected, and it compresses about six months worth of relationship into a few seconds, defusing all the situations it can, transfering knowledge between them, and the end result is a very strong bond." Akane replies, still stroking Shanpoo's hand.

"We both still like you, Ranma, but the potion only works once every twenty years or so on an individual, and you wouldn't like the left-out feeling you'd get if you came with us. We don't want to hurt you like that." Shanpoo continues, still accentless.

"`Come with you'? Where are you going?" Faint confusion shows in Ranma's voice.

"I'm going with my wife to China." Akane smiles happily, zoning out into Shanpoo's face.

"What? Aren't you the least upset about this?" Ranma demands, thinking about her ready way with a mallet.

"I got over that a long time ago. There was nothing else to do about it. Shanpoo made a mistake, but that's OK, I love her anyway."

"We think Ukyou might be able to help you cope with this, perhaps you should call her. The potion will still be potent for another couple hours. You should tell her what it is first, however." Shanpoo says, drawing Akane to her feet and starting up the stairs.

**Nan tte koto!** Ranma suddenly hears the chopsticks he had in his hand snap, looks down to see a slow trickle of blood begin. **maybe I should call Utchan** Ranma starts to his feet, holding his palm to stop the bleeding, the shock on his face quite obvious.

"Moshi moshi? Utchan? I need to talk to you right now. Could you come over? Please? It's kinda urgent. Thank you so much." He doesn't notice the quaver in his voice. Setting the telephone reciever down before drifting to the bottom of the stairs he listens to the happy laughter from upstairs. **she's happy. I have to be happy for her** After a bit the laughter dies down and he hears Akane's door open and their footsteps. He walks quickly into the dinning room and sits down next to the bowl of congealing ramen. "Will you write me?" He asks as they walk by, each with a pair of suitcases, abject fear in his voice.

"Yes, we will."

"Thank you. I don't think I could stand to lose you as friends as well."

"Don't worry about that. You will always have a special place in our hearts." Akane smiles at him as Shanpoo speaks, nods emphaticly.

"Hello? It's me." Ukyou's voice comes from the front, and Ranma follows Shanpoo and Akane toward the door.

"Ukyou-san, please take care of him." Akane asks her after she opens the door and waves her in.

"What happened?" Ukyou sounds totally confused, and the look on her face as Shanpoo holds the door for Akane matches the feeling.

"Shanpoo brought by a love potion to catch me with, but I was trying to get the basics of cooking through Akane's skull so she caught Akane instead."

"How does it work?"

"From what I heard it provides six months of virtual time to be alone together in and some prodding of some sort to make things develop into love. Shanpoo said that the potion will work for another couple hours, so are you willing to do this?"

"Of course! How long does it take realtime?" **It's awful that it should happen this way, but he will finally be mine!**

"A few seconds." Ukyou blinks, then makes a `lead on' gesture.

"We eat at the same time and it will kick in almost instantly." Ranma picks up a pair of chopsticks, looks at Ukyou. Unknown to either of them Kasumi had walked into the room, and looking at the bowl of congealing ramen, decided it would be a shame to let it go to waste. She'd served herself some and wandered back to the kitchen. Ranma and Ukyou pick out a pinch of noodles each and, in a move that makes them both smile, offer it to the other. The screen splits as Ukyou, Ranma, and Kasumi all take a bite of the ramen at the same time. All three go still for a few moments, Kasumi leaning back against the kitchen counter.

Ranma and Ukyou blink, pick up the bowl of ramen and walk into the kitchen. "'Sumi-chan, what should we do with this? It's too dangerous to leave about."

"I don't know, Ran-chan. Shanpoo said they'd only be good another couple hours, so if you flush them they won't be any more trouble."

"Un. Wakatta." Ranma walks off to the toilet while Ukyou moves to slice the daikon Kasumi had set out.

"I'm still sorry we didn't check before we ate those." Ukyou looks down at her hands as she deftly makes paper-thin slices.

"Don't worry Utchan, it wasn't your fault. I should have heard them talking about it having a love potion in it. Besides, why should I be upset at having such cute spice?" Kasumi finishes gathering the supplies for dinner and moves to start on the daikon when she realizes that Ukyou has already started it. She takes another knife and starts the carrots.

"That is a really nice thing to say, 'Sumi-chan." Ranma says as she walks up to the other two, hugging them both. Ukyou shivers at the touch of her wet hair. "Sorry 'bout the hair. Oyaji got after me for wasting food and tried to dunk me in the pond. I got splashed when I threw him in."

"I know you have to do that, Ran-chan, but do you think it would have worked to tell him that there was a love potion in it?"

"No, but we'd better tell them all what happened. Mom'll be by for dinner, so we'll catch them then." Ukyou strokes Ranma's cheek as she speaks, then turns back to the mostly sliced daikon.

"Un. 'Sumi-chan, what should I do?" Ranma lets them both go as she asks.

"Fill that pot, start it, and string the peas." Ranma starts to work.

--

"Obaba, you were right. Shanpoo didn't catch who she wanted."

"Can't say I didn't warn her. You look happy enough about how things turned out."

"I'm besmitten, so I can't be objective about these things, but I don't see how I could have been so upset about how much attention she paid to Ranma if I didn't fancy her." Akane smiles at her new love.

"This is a bit personal, but do either of you plan on having children?"

"Hai." They both reply.

"OK, do either of you plan on having any soon?"

"Not me. I'm not done growing yet, so it'd stunt my growth."

"I've hit my full potential, at least according to the doctors. If she wants to I'm willing."

"In that case you may want to ask Ranma for a donation. He has good genes, even if his father is scum." Akane promptly turned pink.

"Wouldn't you mind?" She asks Shanpoo.

"Why would I mind. You know the village laws too. Any children either of us bear are both of ours." Akane makes a few incoherent noises, then resorts to hand gestures. Obaba understands them first.

"You've got it wrong. Nothing like that is necessary. You take in a clean bottle or film can and say `Ranma, Shanpoo and I have decided to have a child and we'd like you to make a donation to the cause' or some such."

"It's still embarassing. I'll do it, though. A child with her eyes. . ."

"That's right," Shanpoo smiles at Akane, who brings herself out of her reverie to smile back.

--

"You fed my little girls a love potion!" Soun's tears make everyone draw back from the flood.

"No, father, Ran-chan didn't feed either of us the love potion. We both ate it of our own free will. Ranma did tell Akane to taste the ramen it was in, but that was because he was trying to make her realize what she was doing wrong as a cook. How was he to know that Shanpoo had drugged the ramen? It isn't something she's ever done before."

"That's right. And I ate the ramen because I wanted to help Ranma cope with losing Akane. Heck, Akane said that we should do it."

"This isn't the way things would have gone if Shanpoo hadn't brought by that bowl of ramen, but it isn't as bad as you are making out. The potion doesn't make one fall in love with someone. It just puts one in a position where one will come out of its influence understanding or loving the other people who went under with one." Ranma looks at the scab on her hand, "In our cases it ended up being love. I know I can trust these two," she gestures to Kasumi and Ukyou, "with my life and my soul, and they know the same about me. They are the only people who I can say that about. If that isn't true love, I will never know what it is."

"You set a high standard there, son. It makes your mother proud of you. Are you going to marry either of them?"

"I remember hearing about a Shintou priest who will do ceremonies for `odd' families. We talked about going there with Shanpoo and Akane." Ranma stops speaking and goes back to eating.

"That would be nice. I don't think the government will recognize such a marriage, unfortunately."

"True. However, it won't be much of a problem to get our names changed to match, and the gay rights laws are finally starting to take effect." Kasumi says before emulating her new iinazuke, eating with a speed and efficiency that the others had never seen in her.

"Ano, could we speak to Ranma for a moment?" Akane asks from the doorway. A quick look is exchanged and Ukyou, Kasumi and Ranma stand up and follow the two young women into the garden.

"Hazukashii nan desu kedo," Akane breaks off, flushing.

"We've decided to have a child, and were wondering if we could get a donation," Shanpoo holds out the carefully washed film canister that they had brought, "If it is OK with you." She looks at Kasumi and Ukyou.

Ranma follows the glance, and raises one eyebrow, shrugging her shoulders slightly to say `It's your choice.'

"I don't mind," Ukyou shrugs.

"Nor I," Kasumi continues.

"Guess you can," Ranma finishes.

"Onee-chan, I didn't know you were interested in Ranma."

"I wasn't. I took my bite of ramen at exactly the right moment, though, so now I get to keep them." She wraps an arm each about Ranma and Ukyou.

"Could you come in and tell the family your plans? Oh, and we were planning a Shintou wedding ceremony, and we were wondering if you would like to have one too." Ranma asks over her shoulder as Kasumi turns all three of them back towards the house, "Oh, and pass me the container," She catches it one handed and stuffs it into a pocket. "I should have it for you by noonish tomorrow, OK?" **I think our cycles are in sync. 'Sumi-chan and Nabiki's are synced pretty close to mine at least** She hears a muffled noise of assent from behind her.

"Oh, and would you two like some dinner? We made enough," Kasumi looks back over her shoulder at the edge of the house.

"Um," Akane looks at Shanpoo, who nods, "Sure, I guess."

Dinner passes with a few annoyed looks exchanged between Soun and Shanpoo, and then between Akane and Soun when she notices.

"Ja mata ne," Akane takes her leave, Shanpoo echoing her a moment later.

"Ja," Ranma waves, a bittersweet smile on her face. After they have gone she turns to her mother, "Okaasan, I hadn't expected you to take this as well as you have."

"Why shouldn't I? You're the happiest that I've seen you, ever. Your iinazuke are lovely, and you all actually know how to express affection without violence. It would be hard for things to get better." She smiles at her child, strokes her cheek with one finger, and Ranma leans into the caress ever so slightly.

Epilogue:

"Oh, yeah, Kunou-sempai, you wouldn't have heard. Akane went off to China with Shanpoo, and last I heard they were expecting their first child." Ranma dodges the fountain of blood and watches amazed as Tatewaki passes out in the schoolyard **He's never done that before**. "Coming, Utchan?"

"Un." And the two walk into school, fairly pleased with their summer break.

---

Glossary: Nan tte koto: fairly literally, `What a thing to say', but more like `What the F..k!' in this case.

Hazukashi nan desu kedo: Hazukashi is `embarrassing', so the sentence means `it's embarassing but' Wakatta:Understood.

Spice:Demi-standard plural of `Spouse', through the parallel with `mouse' and `mice.'

Authorial Rambling...

Well, I actually thought up a story that isn't a UF sized epic. . . (even if it's grown quite a bit from the one-shot I'd originally thought it to be)

199x:

Written. Posted. Editted.

2009/May/15:

Formatted for ff.n. Uploaded


	2. The Sequel

#include "stddisclaimer.h"

Final Attempt II

The Sequel

A story by Suika Roberts, Saint of Eris Discordia

Based on the manga by Takahashi Rumiko, without the permission of anyone.  
And we start drawing in _Sailor Moon_, which is Takeuchi Naoko's.  
And _Aa Megami-sama_, which is Fujishima Kousuke's.

"Utchan, 'Sumi-chan, my teaching class went to an orphanage today. It was like a prison, only they throw one into it for being underage and not having parents. If one is over about ten one is _extremely_ unlikely to get out before the age of 18, unless one runs. Over half the people incarcerated there are over ten. We can't get them all out, but even one . . ." The other two stare at their spouse, wondering how to take this. Kasumi speaks up first.

"Ran-chan, I thought we had agreed not to have any children until we were all out of college."

"Yes, but that was, at least I though it was, because it would be too dangerous for any of us to be pregnant for nine and a half months, and then be guarding a small child, what with the mess that still follows us about." The other two nod in agreement at that, pausing to consider the situation a little more.

"So, you want to adopt someone over ten, then?"

"Yes, I thought we could all go down there and meet the kids, talk to them, find one who we think would work well in our family group. Even if we don't adopt anyone we should go visit them, talk with them, play with them. Those kids were so. . ." She shudders as she trails off.

"OK, when do you want to go?"

"Soon, 'Sumi-chan. I think I can manage the paperwork by Thursday afternoon, and we would then just need to convince whomever we would like to come with us that it is a good idea."

"Ranma, are you sure this is a good idea? This is our first year of college, we're only 18 and Kasumi's barely old enough to drink in the US." Ukyou says, her chopsticks held in her left hand with her rice bowl as she gestures.

"No, I'm not sure this is a good idea. It could be a really bad one. I just couldn't live with myself if I didn't try to get at least one of them out."

"That's become one of your really good points, recently." Kasumi smiles at her spouse. "You care for people a lot, and you've recently started actually expressing it."

"That's such a pretty compliment, 'Sumi-chan," Ranma smiles back, leans forward and kisses the taller woman. Ukyou looks down at her hands, not wanting to feel left out, but doing so none the less. The sudden touch of her spouse's hand on her face, and the touch of her lips against her own send the feeling tinkling down to lay like broken glass at her feet. Ranma smiles at her as she goes back to her food, once again glad that the three of them were living in NekomiKyouDai's married student housing instead of at Tendouke or Utchan. At the one they would have to deal with Tendou Soun, Saotome Genma (when he showed up), Happosai, the Kunous, and sundry other distractions. Utchan was better, but the others still showed up with distressing regularity. They had managed somehow to keep the location of their apartment a secret, but even using a payphone they worried that the others would find out and come to harass them. *It's really nice that the monk who did our wedding ceremony managed to get us a license, even if it took him six months to find a clerk who would write one out for a three-person wedding. I need to send him another card, I think*

Dinner finishes, and Ranma remembers something else. "Oh, 'Sumi-chan, what was it you were wanting to talk about? I sorta spaced it during my trip to the orphanage." Ranma holds her tail with her right hand as she speaks, her thumb wrapped around it at the base of her neck.

"Oh, I was wanting to know why you weren't letting me help with the cleanup from dinner anymore."

"You need to do your homework if you want to do well, and you'll need to do well if you are going to be a doctor. We thought that you'd prefer it that way. Sumimasen."

"Your intention is good, but, please, remember rule one."

"'Never take the relationship for granted. If a problem arises, talk about it,"' *nine months and still only the one rule* "We'll remember to talk about things first next time, OK? Now go do your homework, 'Sumi-chan." Ukyou looks up from the warm water in the sink, smiling at her spouse. Kasumi smiles back, nods, and hurries off, emptying her backpack onto the dinning room table and starting on her calculus homework. "I'm amazed at how well she's doing. She was out of school for how long? Three years?"

"Four. She managed to graduate early." Ukyou shakes her head in admiration, then goes back to the dishes.

--

"So, you mean to tell me you are going to let those three freaks take one of our children? Why are you allowing this?"

"Those 'three freaks' as you called them are straight `A' students in college, and have a very stable relationship, which will be good for a child. They are taking an older child as well, so any stable family would be wonderful. I really care for the children here, but there are just too many of them for me to give them the love and attention that they need." *I may need to watch that one. Her homophobia could well cause problems if any of the younglings she's responsible for have to come out.* The director sighed, and stamped the application 'provisionally approved.'

--

"So, do either of you have a preference as to who you want to bring home with us?" Ranma looks at her spice as she walks backwards in front of them.

"I like the girl you have fallen for." Kasumi smiles back at her spouse, who stumbles a little.

"I like her too, she's a nice kid." Ranma almost looses her balance.

"I didn't know I was that obvious."

"You were. So, what have you heard from them on the paperwork?"

"Provisionally approved. If Mako-chan doesn't mind and the director thinks we'll be good for her, we will have a daughter by the end of the week."

"That's wonderful! Tell me the day and I'll make a wonderful meal to celebrate her joining the family." Kasumi smiles at her spice.

--

"Mako-chan, would you like to become part of my family?"

"Why me? According to just about all the people here I'm short-tempered, undisciplined and violent." Makoto's voice displays her resentment of this all-too-common assessment.

"You're a lot of fun to be with; fairly well disciplined, especially considering what you get run through here; you remind me a lot of myself at your age; and I can't just leave you here if it is within my power to get you out."

"I'd love to, but I have a couple of conditions." Makoto ticks them off on her fingers while she speaks, "I get to keep my name, I owe that to my parents, and you need to teach me martial arts." She looks up from her fingers apprehensively.

"Agreed." Ranma smiles, '`I should have the paperwork done in time to take you home tonight."

--

"Saotome Ranma, you are now a parent, congratulations."

"Thanks." Ranma smiles at the director, glad that she was in charge and not that awful woman who ran the office. _That_ one . . . misogynistic, misanthropic, homophobic, and, worst of all in a place like this, she posilutely _abhors_ children. The first three could be forgiven, almost, if it were not for that last. She shakes her head, realizing that she had just missed something the other had said. "What was that? I was woolgathering."

"I was saying that all the paperwork is done and you can take her home."

"Really! Thank you so much!" Ranma beams over the desk as she presses the older woman's hand, unusually demonstrative.

--

"'Sumi-chan? I the paperwork done on schedule, and I should be home in about an hour, OK? Mmmhmm, thanks, bye!" Ranma's excitement makes her voice slightly higher-pitched than normal.

"Mako-chan?" The eleven year old looks up from nursing her bruised soul, *at least Ari's nursing a bruised face!* at the sound of Ranma's voice.

"Hai?"

"It's official, We've adopted you." Ranma stumbles back as 35 kilos of excited young girl plows into her arms. "I'm glad to see you're happy about this too," Ranma hugs her back, continues, "I don't have a car and the trains are really slow, so unless you mind I thought I'd carry you home on my back." She looks down at the girl pillowed against her chest.

"That's fine."

"OK, They said that most of your stuff was boxed up in the storage building, so do you have anything you need to pack?"

"I packed it all last night. I was planning on making my biweekly escape attempt tonight after you left. I'd spent the last couple weeks finding out where you lived and worrying that you'd bring me back if I showed up at your door. Finding out about the adoption really threw me for a loop." Makoto's face falls, "I think I may have lost my only friend from here over it, though." Ranma makes a concerned prompting noise. "She called me a traitor and I blacked her eye for it." The pain in her voice strikes a chord in Ranma's heart.

"Why was she upset with you?"

"I'd promised to take her with me this time. She's been in here ever since her parents got hit by a bus, and she helped me a lot with learning how to cope with this place."

"What's her name?"

"Ariana."

"OK, lead me to her, perhaps she would follow us out."

"Ryoukai!" Makoto snaps her heels together, picks up her backpack, and leads the way from the room.

--

"Hello, Ari-chan, would you like to get out of here?" Ranma smiles at the blonde-haired girl, who tentatively smiles back. *Careful, Ranma, conspiracy is a felony, talk around it*

"Mochiron."

"Would you need to pack anything?"

"I'm still packed, so let me just stuff this away." She shoves the novel she was reading into her pack, giving Makoto a look that makes her wilt.

"Then let's get out of here, Mako-chan." She waits for Ariana to get her bag on, then leads the way from the room. "Shizuka ni," The two girls look at Ranma, "Walk quickly, if an alarm is raised, Mako-chan and I will stop, and if you ran, Ari-chan, you would probably escape. Understood?"

"Wakatta!" The two girls chorus. Ranma leads the way to the door, the girls on either side of her.

The three walk unhurriedly out of the building, stopping to smile at the guard on the way out.

"This is my new daughter Makoto."

"She's very cute, ma'am," The guard's eyes glaze as he waves them through, "You two have a good time."

--

"What happened back there? The guard should have seen me for sure."

"He did, Ari-chan, but he forgot. 'Tis an old Zanji mind-trick."

"Zanji?" Makoto asks as they reach the train station.

"An ancient martial art that I recently started to learn. My sensei is really cool, you'd like her, I think, Mako-chan."

--

"Ne, Morisato-sempai, could you come rescue us? Another kid followed me out of the orphanage, and I was hoping you could give her a ride to my apartment. I'm sure 'Sumi-chan has made enough for you and Belldandy-sensei, if she hasn't started dinner yet."

"Bell-chan. . ." Ranma hears Keiichi put his hand over the receiver, then he comes back, "Sure, Belldandy and I would be glad to help. Where are you at?"

--

"Hora, Belldandy-sensei, Morisato-sempai!" Ranma hops onto the barricade and waves at the couple with the sidecarred BMW motorcycle.

"Ranma-chan!" Belldandy calls from the sidecar as they stop. '`Is this your daughter?" She looks at Makoto.

"Un. Kino Makoto, meet Morisato Keiichi-san and his friend-owner Belldandy-san." Both Keiichi and Belldandy color prettily at the description. "Belldandy-sensei is teaching me Zanji." Makoto takes another look at the woman in the sidecar, wondering if the marks on her face indicate her rank in the art. "This is Ari-chan, she sorta followed me from the orphanage at the last minute."

"Hello, Ari-chan, I guess you'd better ride in the sidecar." Belldandy says, climbing out. She helps Ariana put on the extra helmet, and the girl climbs into the sidecar. Ranma notices that she's dressed differently than normal as Belldandy finishes knotting her skirt and climbs on behind Keiichi. "Are you sure you two will be OK?"

"Hai, Belldandy-sensei. You know where my apartment is, right?"

"Un. I'll see you there."

"Un. Ki o tsukette!" All three of them wave before pulling away from the curb. Ranma and Makoto wave back, then Ranma drops to one knee. "Climb on, Mako-chan, and hold on pretty tightly, 'cause it is going to be a one to four meter drop to the ground most of the way home." Ranma feels Makoto's nod, stands up and runs the first block along the ground, getting used to the weight of the child, adjusting the girl's grip and position before taking to the rooftops.

"Blessed! How fast are we going?"

"I don't really know, since I've never really checked. The speed limit on that street is about 50 KPH, though." Makoto realizes that they had passed several of the few cars on the road.

--

"Tadaima"

"Itterashai" Kasumi's voice answers. Ranma drops to one knee and lets Makoto down before both of them shed their shoes. Ranma gestures for Makoto to precede her into the apartment.

"Belldandy-sensei, how long have you been here?" Ranma asks, noting that her skirt is still knotted.

"About a minute." Belldandy follows Ranma's gaze and unknots her skirt as she speaks. "It's strange to actually beat you anywhere."

"Un. Oh, are you lot still interested in learning to ride motorcycles?" Keiichi asks, looking up at Ranma.

"Un, like about three days ago when we last discussed it."

"Let's make arrangements at the next meeting of the Auto club, then?"

"Fine, we'll be there."

"Ran-chan, you should come help serve."

"Hai, 'Sumi-chan. Mako-chan, you can sit down." Makoto takes a seat at the table as Ranma walks to the kitchen. A few moments later Ranma returns stacked with dishes that she places on the table, her hands moving faster than Makoto can see, somehow not spilling anything. Kasumi follows her from the kitchen with the rice-cooker. "Did Utchan say she'd be late?"

"No." Kasumi sounds calm, but Ranma can tell she's hiding a growing concern.

Ranma takes a deep breath, her eyes closing as she lets it out and takes in another. "Found her. She's about a block and a half away. Want me to walk her the rest of the way home?" She looks at Kasumi.

"Please." At the single word Ranma walks out of the room, putting on her shoes at the door.

Ukyou, as expected, arrives just as Ranma opens the door.

"Tadaima! Osokunachatta, gomen!" Ranma walks back into the room with Ukyou, both of them having shed their shoes. "Class ran over about ten minutes and I had to talk with the teacher." Ukyou's breath slows a bit more, "It's a pain, I must say."

"Thanks for managing to get home so quick." Ukyou smiles at Kasumi, thankful for her candor. "Belldandy-sensei and Morisato-sempai gave Ari-chan here a ride after Ranma sprang her from the orphanage, so they'll be here for dinner."

"She followed me out. 'Tis a different thing entirely."

--

"That was delicious as always, Kasumi-san."

"Thank you, Belldandy-sempai."

"Whatever shall we do about you, Ari-chan? Do they know that you are Mako-chan's friend?" the blonde girl nods, "Drat. That means they are likely to come looking for you here. If it hadn't taken most of our discretionary funds for the next year and a half as well as most of my savings I'd see if we couldn't adopt you too. Dou Shiou?" Ranma's voice turns contemplative as she asks the final 'what to do'.

"We could take her in, I'm sure we could keep the authorities off for seven years or so. What do you think, Ari-chan?" Belldandy interrupts Ranma's musings. Ariana looks undecided.

"We couldn't impose like that. I guess we'll just have to get a loan from Nabiki-neechan," Ukyou counters.

"If it won't cause them trouble, I'd like to go with Belldandy-san and Morisato-san, if that's OK."

"It shouldn't, and I may be able to talk the money to adopt you out of my folks," Keiichi replies.

--

"So, Mako-chan, you need to be in school when?"

"8:30, same as everyone else."

"Not quite. Utchan has to be in class at 7:30 this morning, and 'Sumi-chan has a 7:30 class on Tuesdays and Thursdays." Ranma looks away, then asks,

"How much martial arts do you know?"

"Not much. I can beat people up, though."

"Well, that may be a start . . . "

"OK, 8 o'clock, time to stop and get you to school." Ranma checks that the door is locked with a quick touch to the Force, then picks up their bentou.

"Un," Makoto starts walking, Ranma at her side.

"Why is your school all the way out here when you were living on the other side of town?"

"I was living a couple blocks on the other side of the school with my parents, and when they disappeared one of the local police officers helped me keep out of trouble. Things broke down after they'd been gone for about three months, and the orphanage got me."

"What happened to your parents?"

"They went to Vietnam to look for my maternal great-grandfather's bones. He died there towards the end of the Pacific War. From what my relatives have said he didn't want to go, thought the whole war was a ruse by the militarists to secure their power. In 1944 he'd been living on a farm someplace out-of-the-way, and the government shipped him off to Vietnam as part of either another invasion or some sort of half-hearted rescue attempt. At the end of the war my relatives were told that he was missing and presumed dead.

"My parents left to go looking last June, and when my school noticed I was living alone they reported it, and I got taken into state custody. That was about six months ago."

"How long did your parents think this search would take?"

"They said it would probably take several years. One of my aunts was nominally living with me, but I haven't seen her since before my parents left."

"Your parents are probably alive, and they let me adopt you?"

"They decided that anyone who would 'go off and play Indiana Jones' for even a couple years, leaving a small child behind, isn't a fit parent."

"I can see their point, but that is quite harsh."

"Vietnam isn't a safe place, even now. The US dropped enough ordinance on the country to outmass the population of China, and far too much of it is still waiting to go off."

--

Makoto, Ranma, Kasumi and Ukyou clump together to the side of the clubhouse away from Tamiya-sempai as the meeting comes to disorder.

"Ja, first on the agenda we have some new members, the Saotomes and their daughter Makoto. They want to learn both driving and mechanics, so Megumi, Hasegawa-san, could you make the arrangements after the meeting?" The two named nod, while Ootaki and Tamiya look a little bit upset. "Ootaki-sempai, Tamiya-sempai, you remember what happened the last time we let you try to teach female recruits." The two of them look at their feet.

"Next, we have that race next month. Saotome-san," Kasumi, Ukyou, and Ranma look up, "Ranma-san, how much do you weigh?"

"43 kilos, whyd'ya wanna know?"

"As of now you are the lightest member of the club. We'll have to see how well you are riding by the time the race rolls around, but I think we may have enough funds for two entries."

"Yeah, we have the funds, but Ranma-san has never ridden a motorcycle. Ya think she'll be ready by then, Morisato?"

"Ranma-san is the most impressive martial artist I have ever seen. She'll almost certainly be ready."

"That looks like fun. Could you teach me, 'Gumi-neechan?" Megumi looks up at Makoto from her place on the floor next to the vat of solvent she is dumping pieces from her bike's right carb into.

"Sure. It's really rather boring." Megumi starts naming parts and explaining what they are for as she drops each one into the solvent bath.

"And one doesn't pull both carbs apart at once because the parts are mirror images, so while they aren't different enough to not fit, they are different enough not to work properly." Makoto interrupts as Megumi pulls the last bolt and drops it into the solvent.

"Right." Megumi slips the body of the carb into the solvent before she stands up. She holds both hands in front of her in the classic 'monster' or 'Goddess, but my hands are grealy' pose as the two of them walk out the door, talking excitedly.

The camera pulls away from the closing door, focusing in on the body of the carb, soaking in solvent.

-*-

Gloss:

Sumimasen: normal/polite mild apology

Wakatta: rough/masculine 'understood'

Tadaima: lit. just now, used for 'I'm home'

Itterashai: The appropriate response

Osokunachatta: (I) have regretfully become late

Gomen: milder apologetic, informal

Log:  
1999 May 23: added log and gloss ^_^  
1999 Sept 6: tiny fixes  
2004 Jan 4: Title block ^_^


	3. Needs a Good Subtitle

(notes from the first posting) I've changed POV for this one, I hope it's obvious who's speaking

I'm sorry if my interpretation of peoples hair color bothers you, but I'm sometimes of the opinion that the only reason that anime people have different colored hair is to make sure that people can tell who is who if the animation quality drops ^_-

-------------- cut here --------------------------

#include "stddisclaimer.h"

Final Attempt III  
Needs a good subtitle

A story by Suika Roberts, Saint of Eris Discordia Based on the manga by Takahashi Rumiko, without the permission of anyone. And here we draw in Sailor Moon further, which is Takeuchi Naoko's.

I walk back into the house, wiping the grime from my fingers.

"Ranma-mama, can we take the Fairlady to school today? I've gotten the engine back in, and she runs a lot better. I still need to adjust the clutch and shift linkages, and I thought we could do that on the way."

She looks up from her text, glances at the clock, "Sorry, it's already eight, so we don't have the time. How about this evening?" I look at the clock, realize that she's right and give in.

"OK. So we're taking the Norton?" Ranma-mama nods, shrugging into her jacket and searching for the Norton's keys. I rinse the degreaser off my hands, then strip off the grey t-shirt I wear for working on things, and peel the stocking-cap off my head, dropping both into the red can by the door marked 'caution, flammable.'

I dry my hands before pulling on my jacket, then follow her out the door, making sure it's locked.

I look up from Ranma-mama's back as we turn the corner, feeling something happening ahead.

"Stop!" She pulls over next to the barrier, where I climb off and hand her my helmet before jumping up onto one of the posts.

"Why are you picking on this girl?" She's pretty, whoever she is. Long black hair tied up in little Odango and a huge set of blue eyes.

"She started it." Heh, right. One doesn't even need to feel the Force to tell that that isn't totally true.

"Tell me another one." There are three of them, and one of them, the one who was manhandling the girl, I recognize.

The first one rushes me. I hop off of the pole and give him a little shove to the back, and he goes over the barrier, taking him out of the fight until he gets his wind back. The one I recognize, Robuwossname Gendou, rushes me, leaving the girl. I grab him by the throat, pick him up off the ground in a one-handed lock, my thumb pressing into the nerve cluster between his jaw and throat.

"You, run away." The third punk runs, and I almost toss Gendou back against the wall, but just drop him instead. He collapses to his knees, then cowers, hiding his head under his hands.

"If I wanted to really hurt you, I would have." The girl's stare finally penetrates, and I look up into an all too familiar face. "Look, before you decide to fall in love with me you'd better know that I'm a girl." I almost snap at her.

"How could anyone think otherwise?" Her voice shows real confusion, and that defuses my anger.

"You'd be surprised." I check the time, continue, '`Sorry I took so long. Want a ride? You do go to Juuban-chuu, right?" She's wearing a Juuban uniform at least.

"Yeah," She checks her watch, '`and I'm gonna have to take you up on the ride, or I'll be late again." Ranma-mama tosses me my helmet, and I help the girl, Usagi, into it, explaining that she'd be in no position to escape if an accident did occur. I don't add that she's badly undertrained for whatever gives her that aura of power. It's a tight fit, and I feel like I'm going to fall off the whole way, but we get to school with a few minutes to spare.

We stop at the gate, and I stuff my helmet under the bunji-net on the back seat after Usagi hands it back to me. Usagi runs ahead, and Ranma follows, her helmet under one arm, to help get me through the gates.

"Look, I've told you four times already. _The school uniforms for this school don't come in a size that will fit her._ At her last school she had to wear a boy's uniform because they didn't have the girls uniforms in a big enough size, and that led to some problems, but even the boys uniforms aren't big enough here." The official glares at Ranma-mama, 'cause she's blocking at least a dozen other girls, who will have to be excused for being late. Officials don't like that kind of thing. They don't like girl students who show up dressed like me, either. I'm dressed, as Kasumi-mama put it, 'as blatantly feminine as one can get without attracting attention,' which is just what we were aiming for. Quilted sleeve-less red Chinese shirt, black pants, and my hair tied back in a single high tail. I definitely look like Ranma-mama's daughter, though. After about four minutes more Ranma-mama starts to lose her temper, and the official declares my attire perfectly fine as the blue glow spreads. It disappears at his statement.

"Put that in writing, please." The official complies with remarkable speed, describing both my current attire and 'acceptable variations' of it, then signs it. He makes out another two copies while Ranma-mama watches him, giving one to Ranma-mama and the other to me.

Ranma-mama walks me to my classroom, and explains things to the teacher, who nods understandingly. Ranma-mama is just too cool sometimes.

"Saotome-sa. . . no, Kino-san, you can sit next to Tsukino-san." I bow to the sensei, then notice that Tsukino is the girl I'd rescued this morning. A few moments later I notice that she's doodling hearts on her paper and really start to worry. I'm glad all three of my adoptive parents have been teaching me, because I pay almost no attention to my classes all morning, too busy worrying about the girl beside me.

When Usagi follows me off away from everybody at lunch I shift from worry to fear.

"Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Not the question I was expecting, but one I'd had used on me before.

"Ranma-mama has been teaching me since I was 11, and Ukyou-mama helps her sometimes." That is usually enough to get most people to back off, but she perseveres.

"Cool. Do you think they could teach me?"

"Probably. Someone needs to. You stick out like a sore thumb, so much power and so little control." Her look changes, from hero-worship to something else, something a lot less predatory. I fish out my bentou as she chatters away happily about the school, all the people, and starts radiating hunger vibes the moment I have the food out. I'm forced to feed her, realizing as I do so that I've just earned myself a friend for life.

"Wow, your mother cooks really well!"

"Actually, it was my turn to cook this morning. Both Kasumi-mama and Ukyou-mama have early morning classes today, and Ranma-mama is going to cook Wednesday."

"Then you cook really well," Usagi mumbles around a mouthful of onigiri. She finishes it in silence, then asks the question I've been dreading,

"Why'd you switch schools in the middle of the term? Does it have to do with what you said about not falling in love with you if before I knew you are a girl?" There's no-one in earshot, so I answer truthfully.

"Yes. I was going out with this girl for a month, and we'd just kissed for the first time when she brushed her hand against my chest. She just panicked. I've still got the bruises from where she squeezed me. That I could have coped with, I've known for a while that things aren't as easy in same-sex relationships as one would think, but that punk who was beating up on you started causing trouble. He called me a fucking dyke," Usagi gasps at that, "I'm not. I find more women attractive than men, but it's about a six to four ratio. I didn't feel the need to deny it to him, though. He then called Mai-chan a dyke. I told him to shut his yap." I shrug, "He replied with something vulgar to the effect of how he'd show me what a woman needs, and put his hand on my shoulder. I slammed him into the wall and said that if he ever tried to touch me again I'd make sure he'd regret it.

"The mints," I answer Usagi's unspoken question, '`administrators, didn't like the way I handled it, and said that if anything else happened like that I'd get expelled," I sigh, continue, "As if that would solve the problem. Kasumi-mama checked about, Juuban was chosen, we filled out a lot of paperwork and I was transferred here." I sigh again.

"What was that for?" I can pick up her meaning fairly easily, so I answer.

"Oh, just that I'd kept myself out of any fights for two and a half years when that happened. All that work, and it only took one incident to muck it all up."

"How does one. . ." Usagi trails off, her concern masking the rest of the question.

"Ask. There's no one else in earshot."

"How do you gather up the courage to tell a girl that you like her?"

Hoo boy. "I don't. I just hide the fear in the back of my head, talk to her for a while, try to find out if she likes me, then I just tell her. I must admit that I don't have a very good success rate. Three boys and four girls, and only one of them actually said she liked me back."

"And she's the one who freaked out when she realized that you are a girl, right?" I nod miserably, thinking back on my relationship with Mai-chan.

"I'm so sorry, Mako-chan. Is it OK for me to call you that?" She looks very worried, so I reassure her.

"It's fine. All of my friends do," even if most of them are collage students.

The rest of the school day floats past, and I manage to pay attention through the rest of my classes. Usagi is still doodling hearts, but it doesn't bother me as much now that I'm fairly sure she isn't doodling them about me.

After classes let out Usagi invites me out with her friends. I go along, making a mental note to call and warn Kasumi-mama that I'll be out late. She drags me to the 'Crown Gesen' [gesen is the standard Japanese contraction for 'game center' or arcade --S.]

"Drat. Motoki-niisan isn't here," from the way she says it one would almost think that Motoki wasn't a romantic interest of hers. She then shows me the Sailor V game, and I play for a while, even though I am very unskilled at video games. They just aren't _real_, so I prefer to watch other people play them. After I've blown my week's supply of game-coins Usagi introduces me to her friends, calling the one with short hair 'Tensai no Ami-chan' and the long-haired girl, who's from a different school, 'Ijiwaru no Rei-chan.' Things degrade quickly between the two of them, so I interrupt,

"Usagi-chan, you shouldn't be so mean to girls you like." Usagi puts her hand to her face while Rei facefaults. The cat looks like she's dying to say something. Usagi's on her knees helping Rei up, and Rei is just looking stunned. It's so sappy I can't cope and feel for a distraction.

The guy at the UFO catcher is _very_ interesting. The dolls are dropping _up_ into the catcher's claws, but he's not using the Force to do it, and I can't feel any ki flow.

"I wanna learn that technique." I don't realize I've said it out loud until I notice Ami looking at me funny.

Someone says that he's 'Crane Arashi no Joe.' I follow him out of the gesen, intending to corner him and either get him to agree to teach me or tick him off badly enough that he'll demonstrate that technique for me. The second method can be a bit painful, so I don't use it much even though it is a lot faster.

This femme blond guy drops lightly out of somewhere in a swirl of sakura petals. _Blessed_, but I want to learn that technique. He pulls this black crystal out, and the raw contempt he is radiating intensifies as things get a little bit weirder than normal; this something I can't identify reaches out and grabs a part of Joe, pulling on it while this hole appears in his chest around it. Whatever is going on around here, I don't think it's good. I concentrate, ki-blast the femme guy, who thoughtfully stops trying to rip Joe into two or more pieces.

"How dare you mar my beautiful face! I'll make you pay for that!" I've heard that before, admittedly in jest while playing with Kodachi-sempai. I laugh at him, and he disappears in another flurry of sakura petals.

"Hey, do you know what that is about?" Joe shakes his head, staggers off muttering about not needing any help. I follow him, noticing that Usagi is following about a half-block back, and, now that I think about it, showed up just before that femme guy.

"Stop following me!" Joe turns around to yell at me, wavers a bit, then turns around and continues on his way.

"I want to learn how you do that trick with the UFO catchers."

"You can't copy my method." He vanishes inside a kisaten, and I sit down outside to wait. The femme guy will probably be back for whatever part of Joe he was after, and I'll have another chance to fight him.

Usagi arrives, crawls under the field of view from the window to me.

"You don't need to hide. I'm waiting for that blonde guy to show up again. He knows some really interesting techniques." Usagi looks at me like I'm slightly nuts. Rei comes into easy sensing distance, about half a block away. I guess she's following Usagi.

"Don't you think about anything else?"

"Of course. Your friend Rei is following you, that cat would be hard for Ranma-mama to deal with, and I still need to adjust the clutch and shift linkages on the Fairlady." Usagi just stares at me.

"And there is a bit of envy about Megumi-neechan and her friend Marler," I finish, turning back to watching, "Oh, and I want to learn how Joe picks up those UFO catcher dolls. It isn't by any remote manipulation technique that I know." Usagi is staring at me. "Oh, and how are things with Rei?" I ask, since Rei is within earshot now.

"Better than I'd hoped, what with how you dropped the secret."

"Really?" Rei asks, squatting down next to us, '`What did you think would happen?"

"I feared that you'd freak out on me, and I hoped that you'd be willing to consider it. I didn't expect you to say that you liked me too." Goodness, what a silly bunch I've fallen into. I'm somewhat mollified when Rei kisses Usagi on the cheek, though.

"I'm sick of you staring at me from outside. Come in." I follow Joe into the kisaten. He says something foolish about superpowers, and levitates an ashtray.

"Could you keep that up for a moment? I can sorta sense what is happening, but . . . " I trail off concentrating on Joe and the area just around him. It takes a bit of twisting, but I manage to feel the energy he's using after about two minutes.

"Thanks." I smile at him, and he smiles reluctantly back. I start trying to lift the saucer from his cup of coffee. I think I've almost got it when the blonde guy shows up, that black crystal in his hand. I punch him in the gut, and he ki-blasts me. I've never liked getting ki-blasted, and if I had any sense I wouldn't have been sitting in a booth when he showed up.

He flees, chasing Joe who's running as fast as he can. Poor schmuck. I follow, the residual effects of the ki-blast fading as I run. The blonde is about a half-block ahead of me, Usagi and Rei about a half-block behind, and Joe is two blocks ahead of the blonde. It's starting to get dark, and I suddenly realize that I forgot to call Kasumi-mama, so I can expect Ukyou-mama and Ranma-mama to show up in another ten minutes or so. I speed up a little bit, ki-blast the blonde from a quarter-block behind him. He stumbles but somehow manages to keep running.

Joe collapses ahead of us, unable to continue, and the blonde catches up to him, pulling out that black crystal. I come running up as he rips that red crystal out of Joe, and it starts back towards him, only to be intercepted by a familiar combat spatula. The crystal bounces once, leaving a gouge in the concrete, before Ukyou-mama picks it up. Ranma-mama has the blonde in a throat-lock, his feet dangling as Ranma-mama glares at him. From behind me two familiar people in much shorter skirts than they had been wearing show up, stumble to a stop.

"Usagi-chan, Rei-chan, these are Ranma-mama and Ukyou-mama," I point as I speak, "I've got this feeling that you're the people who're supposed to deal with this, so what should we do with the blonde?"

They stare at each other, then Usagi speaks, "The blonde's name is Zoicite, and he's from the Dark Kingdom," Why does that name sound so familiar, "and I really have no idea of what to do with him. If he was just another youma we'da killed him already."

"Killed him? So, do you want me to let him go?" I suddenly realize that Ranma-mama is in male form, like usual when I'm late.

"Um..." Usagi seems to be totally unhelpful right now. The cat suddenly speaks up.

"No, don't let him go, and don't let him get that crystal. This," She does a backflip, and a pink-handled crescent-moon sickle clatters on the pavement. Ranma-mama looks at the sound and sees her. Ranma-mama has been working on her ailurophobia, but loses it when the cat continues, "may be able to heal him." Ranma's fingers loosen, and Zoicite slams him in the gut with one knee, attempting to break free.

I suddenly feel a burst of telepathic energy from the blonde, but it isn't aimed anywhere that will do him any good, I think. I change my mind when I feel some return from the same place, so the portal opening doesn't take me by too much surprise. Ranma-mama spins, flinging Zoicite into the man who is trying to come through, knocking them both back through the portal, which closes quickly, but slow enough that we could have followed. The sudden scream of pain from behind me makes me turn, just barely in time to see Joe transform, and I move to block his attack on Usagi, dodging the silly tethered weapons he's using.

I smack one of them, burying it in the dirt, and backhand him just hard enough to knock out an untrained human. He shakes his head and charges me, so I throw him, just enough energy to re-direct his. He tumbles to the ground, and I almost miss the cat walk up.

"Here, this is yours. Take it and say 'Jupiter power, make up!"' I look at her funny, but I snatch the pen up off the ground where she dropped it; startling her badly, I fear; and whisper the words, for they are too embarrassing to say out loud.

There is a sudden flashing of light, and I'm spun around at least once. I stagger to a stop; dodge as the youma attacks again. A firm press down on his back as he falls past, then I'm sitting on his back and he's in an arm-lock.

"Mako-chan, I think I know how to use this thing now." Usagi doesn't sound convinced.

"OK, I'll dodge when you get it to work." Hope to Eris that I'm not being overconfident. I feel the power build, and Usagi swinging that sickle in a circle. When she gets to the end of the first complete circle I let the youma go and jump back. He only has time to get his hands underneath him before the attack hits, and he turns back into Joe.

The cat is saying something silly to the effect of Usagi having to be the leader and protect the princess.

"Isn't that a bit contradictory?" I interrupt, feeling Ukyou-mama and Ranma-mama moving to back me.

"What?" the cat blinks at me in astonishment.

"My memories are returning. You're Luna, right?" the cat gives a very human-like nod, "Can't you even remember what Serenity looks like, or that Venus is the leader?" the cat shakes her head, "They told me that the cold-sleep capsules scrambled your memory, but that is ridiculous. Usagi-chan is the princess." Luna facefaults hard. Harder than I though a cat could, since they are so short.

"Mako-chan, you will explain all of this on the way home, right?" Ukyou-mama asks.

"Yeah. I gotta go home now, so I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow, Usagi-chan, and I'll probably see you around, Rei-chan." The two girls nod, somewhat stunned, I guess by what I said. I drop back into my normal clothing.

Ukyou-mama and Ranma-mama rode the Triumph. "Who's gonna ride in the sidecar?"

"You. You can start explaining things now, or we can wait 'til we get home."

"Home. It is a _really_ long story."

--- log:  
Long time gone:Written, posted to FFML  
2004/Jan/4:Title block and log added.

------------------------------ cut here ------------------------------


	4. A New Hope

#include "stddisclaimer.h"

Final Attempt IV  
A New Hope

A story by Suika Roberts, Saint of Eris Discordia  
Based on the manga by Takahashi Rumiko, without the permission of anyone.  
And Fujishima Kousuke.  
And Takeuchi Naoko.  
And all of their licensees.

"So, child, what are the plans?"

"Circe and I will open a gate into the Dark Kingdom, we all pile through, then split into two groups. You, me, Ranma-mama, Circe, Mercury, and Skuld will go after the large energy sink Mercury thinks is probably Metallia, and the others will head to the throne room to take out Beryl and try to recover Endymion."

"Others?"

"Moon, Mars, Venus, and Ukyou-mama."

"Isn't that a rather dangerous split? We will have the most powerful fighters in our group, leaving the others relatively unprotected."

"Moon, Mercury, and Venus think this is the best split. Metallia is the most dangerous target."

"Perhaps. Child, what is your relationship with Circe? I've noticed that the two of you finish each others thoughts and respond to the other's desires without any exchange of words."

"We, in the Moon Kingdom, were a blood-bonded fire team. As such, we are all but the same person, at least in combat or when we are less than thirty meters apart. It is a bit strained by the fact that we met this time just after the Dark Kingdom killed her first love, and we were sorta falling for each other when she recovered her memories of being Circe and the bond kicked in again."

"Ouch." \When do we leave?\ \Soon, has Usagi been found?\ \Yeah\ \good\ I blink and look up at Obaba.

"We're leaving soon, Hibaachan." She nods and we start back towards the south parking lot of Nekomi Kyoudai's married student housing. The other eight members of the assault team are waiting, as are Kasumi-mama and Belldandy-sensei.

"Are we ready?" I look about the empty parking lot before nodding. I step just a little closer to Circe, feel the link *snap* into place, then transform. \Yoush, open the portal\ thinking in harmony still feels so weird. We move in concert, grabbing the fabric of the universe, holding it while the others transform.

"To repeat this one more time: Don't let _any_ part of your body pass over the edge of the portal! Doing so will place a great deal of space between you and your part. The Dark Kingdom portals have some sort of protective border to them, but we don't know how they do it, so stay toward the middle of the portal. Wakatta kai?"

"Wakatteru." '`Wakatta.'' ``Wakarimashita.'' ``Wakatta.'' "Wakatteru." '`Wakatta.'' \Open it\

I respond to Circe's imperative and we open the portal, sinking the bottom edge a half-meter or so into the asphalt to help keep everyone's feet attached.

"Go!" The other eight run through quickly, then Circe and I follow, the portal collapsing behind us.

"Yoush! The throne room is this way, and that energy sink is that way." Venus waves her group along, Skuld-chan's probes flashing past. I take point, leading the group at a quick run.

"The sink is Metallia."

"Do you have any idea about draining her?"

"Yes. All of the henshin pens share a single energy pool, which is almost exhausted. Placing one of them against her matrix should produce a proper gradient, and the energy level will equalize." Circe takes out the guard on the far side of the door as Mercury speaks. I push the door open, check visually to make sure no one is hiding their presence, then wave the others in.

Mercury slips forward, presses her henshin pen to Metallia's matrix.

"Yoush, so, Mercury-chan, is her matrix a link or a trap?"

"Focus. The matrix serves to maintain her psychic pattern. Destroy it and she will collapse within minutes. Energy levels equalizing." Mercury pulls her henshin pen from the stone a few seconds after she stops speaking.

"I am fairly sure that you have drained off enough energy to allow me to shatter the matrix. Her essence is contained entirely in this egg of stone?"

"Yes." Obaba gives the stone a single full-fisted blow at Mercury's reply. Most of it dissolves slowly into dust, leaving a single lump of intact stone about the size of a five-gallon drum. Mercury starts forward instantly, and I only manage to get a shield up at the last moment, the power-blast glancing off the shield and blowing a large hole in one wall.

"Pitiful. Such a pitiful attack!" deep, evil laughter fills the room. Ranma starts to power up for a ki-blast, and I finally notice why Metallia kept the bit of matrix she did. I concentrate on keeping her from seeing what is going on, and paint the spot for Circe. \Nemesis. Tight beam. Energy control. Now\ The universe changes slightly as the ancient superweapon comes up to firing status for the first time, and a tiny flash is all that appears when it fires. I fight to keep Metallia's mind clouded as she hemorages rapidly, energy bleeding into the ambient.

Moments later Ranma-mama finishes her power-up and ki-blasts Metallia's matrix, which dissolves into a small cloud of warm plasma. Too late, Metallia notices what happened, and fades with a final scream.

"Bad feeling." Obaba's voice is almost scared.

"What?"

"Trouble, throne room." Circe takes point this time, the cannon floating over her shoulder. We follow at a full run. I start to feel what is going on in the throne room as we near it. Usagi is talking to Endymion, and he seems to be almost responding. Suddenly Mamo-chan is back, and on the other side of the room Beryl snaps. Venus manages to deflect the attack slightly, then Ukyou-mama almost manages to block it. We rush in as Usagi pulls the Ou no Ken (king's sword) from where ever it stays when not in use. The two meter blade flashes once then disappears again, Beryl's head spinning lazily through the air for a few seconds while I try to cope with the sight before me, Usagi's blood soaked form, Endymion's corpse on the floor, his head splattered gorily by the large black crystal, Ukyou-mama's spatula bent and one of her wrists broken.

"We can't bring him back, can we?" Mars' voice is soft, the question almost not a question.

"No. He's dead." With this shaky-voiced pronouncement she drops her hand onto the large crystal ball floating conveniently at the front of the dias.

"People of this Dark Kingdom, I hereby claim you all as mine by right of conquest. I took your king's head by my own hand, and my forces killed Queen Metallia. By your laws, that makes me your new ruler, my whim law." Mars walks forward and places her hand on Serenity's shoulder.

"Therefore, you are all now citizens of the Moon Kingdom of Silver Millennium, with all the rights and responsibilities thereof.

"Ignorance of the new laws will not be accepted as an excuse for breaking them, so Mercury will print out copies of them soon, but they generalize to don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal, and don't hurt others when one can avoid it.

"In exchange for following the laws you will gain privileges, including access to the surface.

"However, not following the new laws can be _very_ bad for you. Metallia's energy horde has been distributed into the ambient fields; anyone who hordes more than a two-week supply risks the same fate.

"Any questions?" The response is stunning, hundreds of questions are asked and answered, and the dark, worried, perception-blocking aura starts to fade, letting me feel more and more of this huge place. I'm amazed at what I find, most of the people, for some reason I can't think of them as 'youma' anymore, are amazingly happy with the change.

"Why did you kill my sister?" The question almost echos, and I wonder how they are being relayed from where ever they are asked.

"What was her name?"

"Molga."

"She was trying to kill my important friend Naru-chan. At that point I was scared, inexperienced, and couldn't think of anything else to do. It will not happen again." The sudden flurry of power indicates she is telling the truth, although I'm unsure whether it is based on her belief, some sort of binding oath, or, this having been the domain of a nasty immortal type, perhaps mere vocal emphasis. I sit and ponder this for a moment until shakes me out.

"We're going." Mars has gathered Serenity into her arms, and Serenity looks totally pitiful, huddled against Mars' shoulder. Ukyou-mama feels like someone blocking pain, and Ranma-mama has her hand on Ukyou-mama's shoulder.

Circe initiates the warp, passing it to me to bind. Mars re-adjusts Serenity in her arms, then leads the way through the portal, Ukyou-mama and Ranma-mama at her heels. The warp collapses behind us as we follow the others through.

". . . me down, dearest." The word she uses isn't in modern Japanese, unlike most of the old language, "I'm not permanently damaged." She settles lightly to her feet, turns to Ukyou-mama, "lemme see your arm." Belldandy-sensei is actually staring, and Kasumi-mama is as blatantly concerned as I've ever seen her.

"OK," Ukyou-mama holds out her arm, and the sudden spike of pain makes both me and Ranma-mama wince, although Ukyou-mama doesn't. A warm yellow glow surrounds Serenity, and flows off to envelop Ukyou-mama's arm. In an instant the pain vanishes.

"Why couldn't you . . . " Venus trails off suddenly, murmurs the reason, "only the dead may bring back the dead." Endymion was definitely dead the instant of Beryl's attack, without the slightest hope of him being not quite dead yet, and thus revivable.

"Mamo-chan, did. . . " Serenity fades off, starts over, '`did he. . ."

"Yes, he transformed back to normal."

"Then he . . . " she gulps, continues, '`deserves a proper funeral.'' She pauses for a moment, "Mercury, find an appropriate place to move the . . . body."

Epilog:

"Makoto-chan! Usagi will be down in a moment; Rei-chan managed to wake her up on time. Such a horrible thing, to witness someone dying like that." Ikuko almost visibly cringes, probably remembering the sight of her daughter's blood-soaked form. She'd held together remarkably well; Usagi's father had fainted at the sight. I admit she had quite a fright while we were at the station.

While Usagi, all of us, had looked a lot better than right after the incident, it was still a scary sight; the gore had dried again, Usagi'd borrowed one of Ukyou-mama's little spatulas and cut her hair with it, the bloody lengths of it coiled on detective's desk. We had gotten permission to wash the blood off, but Usagi had refused, she looked like someone had just killed her, and I wasn't surprised when Kenji-san dropped over onto his face.

No one questioned our account of a monster attack killing Mamo-chan and Ranma-mama killing the monster just an instant too late, such things are so unfortunately common, and Ranma-mama having a reputation of sticking up for the weak. Rei had accompanied Usagi home, and now Monday had come again.

---  
log: Long time gone:Written, posted to FFML  
2004/Jan/4:title block and log added.  
2009/May/1: prepped for posting to ff.n


	5. Strangers

#include "stddisclaimer.h"

Final Attempt V  
Strangers

A story by Suika Roberts, Saint of Eris Discordia  
Based on the work of Takahashi Rumiko, Takeuchi Naoko, Fujishima Kousuke, and others.

'Who's the new girl?'

'I don't know. She and the new guy came in together. Her name's something like Ginga Natsumi.'

Usagi-chan blinks at this, and smiles, one of those strange smiles I've seen so often since . we won. 'Doubt it,' she says.

'Doubt what?'

'That they're space aliens. I know they're not human, or any type of youkai I've met, though.'

'What do you mean?'

'Look at her. Notice the way her ki flows, how it ebbs towards anyone who comes near. Also note the faint signature of a disguise spell,' she draws her hand over her short-cropped hair, which somehow makes her look smaller and more dangerous than ever.

I look, feeling things carefully, shoving myself /sideways/ in order to look at her magical aura. I let myself return to normal with a sigh of relief. 'I've never seen an aura like that on a human,' I hedge, playing with one edge of my silk shirtsleeve.

_-_

Usagi-chan's done it again, somehow managing to make friends with the new girl already. The teacher hasn't even arrived for our second class, and she's got the girl laughing and joking a little bit. She settles with the rest of us, though, when the teacher arrives.

At lunch Usagi-chan noticed that she's not eating, and drags me over.

'Hey,' I greet her, Usagi-chan just plopping down close to and facing the girl.

'Did you eat your lunch already?' Usagi-chan gets right to a point.

'Lunch?' she asks, looking confused.

'Yeah, food that one eats in the middle of the day so one doesn't turn into a walking crab or a mean-tempered shark.'

The girl looks posilutely scared at my comments, 'really?' she asks in a very small voice.

'No, Mako-chan is just exagerating,' Usagi-chan smiles at the girl, who smiles tentatively back, 'but it does make one feel a whole lot better.'

'No, I don't have a lunch,' the girl looks down.

'OK, I'll share,' Usagi-chan produces her bentou from somewhere, and hands one of them over, the one I made. The girl takes the smallish lacquer box, holding it gingerly in both hands as she watches Usagi open her own bentou, which, from the looks of it, she made herself.

She carefully copies Usagi-chan as she picks up her chopsticks and gathers up a bit of rice, bringing it to her mouth at the same time. The looks on their faces are comical, but I fight down the urge to laugh, since neither would appreciate the mockery. Usagi-chan's rice is a little soggy, and looks rather like it got left in the cooker overnight. Natsumi-chan's face, on the other hand, is just awed, like she's never eaten before.

Some of the youkai made just that face when they discovered candy, I remember, so perhaps she never has eaten before. Her pace quickly matches Usagi-chan's as they eat quickly, and I fish my bentou out at last.

_-_

Natsumi-chan walks up behind me on soft feet, her steps making no noise at all.

'Hi,' I turn to face her when she gets to within two meters.

She startles, then replies, 'Hi.'

'You should be careful who you sneak up on. Some people around here are still a little skittish, what with all the monster attacks and stuff last year,' which still isn't two months over. Five months since . . . then.

'Thanks,' she looks down, a faint blush to her cheeks, `I asked Usagi-san, and she said that you had made that delicious _bentou_,' her toe scrapes along the ground as she watches it, 'and to ask you how to make them.'

'Sure! Bring your brother, if you want.'

'Why?' she looks up at me in startlement.

'Because, despite what you may hear from some people, everyone should know how to cook. Makes life much more pleasant if someone gets sick or something.'

She nods, 'Thanks!'

_-_

'Oh, good, you have a rice cooker, that makes this a lot easier. Just pour a bit of rice, yeah, about that much, into the cooker, rinse it good under the water, being careful not to let the rice escape, good, and then we fill it up to here,' I indicate the second knuckle on my finger, 'with water and we let it sit for a little bit.' Seijuurou-san follows the directions carefully, and settles the liner back into the body of the rice cooker.

Natsumi-chan has made all sorts of fanciful shapes out of the vegitables, but they look nice, which is the important part about slicing them to my mind.

'Now, lets cook some of these, so that you can taste the differences between how they taste raw and cooked,' I help Natsumi-chan with the pan.

A moment later I smack her hand lightly when she tries to dip her figers in the hot oil, 'Careful, the oil will cook your fingers just as happily as it will the vegitables.'

Natsumi-chan nods, passing her hand over the assortment of implements, and I nod when she gets to the right one. She stirs with enthusiasm, almost losing things several times before she gets the motions down.

After a bit I help them serve the simple meal, rice, pickled things, stir fried and raw vegitables. They inhale it like they've never tasted the like, a possibility that I'm beginning to suspect is the truth.

_-_

'Rei is taking me out for ice cream,' Usagi-chan says, clinging to the slightly taller girl's arm, 'Would you like to come along?'

I run mental fingers over my budget, 'Sure. Natsumi-chan?' I turn to look at the girl, 'I can pay for you and your brother if you'd like to come along.'

Natsumi-chan nods, 'That would be wonderful. What is _ice cream_ like?'

Usagi-chan looks totally scandalized, 'You've never had ice cream? You poor thing!' and she lets go of Rei-chan for a moment, giving Natsumi-chan a comforting hug.

Natsumi-chan just looks confused.

Natsumi-chan turns to look at me, a confused expression on her face, 'What is it with those two?' she asks, making a small gesture towards Usagi-chan and Rei-chan.

'They're in love, but they sometimes show it in interesting ways,' I glance at the two, who are busy arguing with Minako-chan about whether it is possible to touch one's nose with one's tongue. Usagi-chan's first attempted proof would have worked, but Minako-chan said that it didn't count, since Rei-chan hadn't always been Usagi-chan's. This is after the two of them getting into a heated argument over who got to pay for the ice cream, which Usagi-chan barely won, and a short sparring match on the way here when Rei-chan said that she could kick higher than Usagi-chan.

'I thought,' she gestures towards a couple at another table, who are sharing a large sundae.

'Yeah, some people are like that, some are like me, some are like Kasumi-mama. People are different, and who they find attractive is different as well.'

'Hmmm,' she murmors, then franticly chases a couple drips up the side of her cone.

'What did you mean, when you said that some people are like you, and some are like Kasumi-mama? It confused me a little,' Natsumi-chan asks, outside the gate to Nekomi Kyoudai's married student housing complex.

'Well, what I meant was some people only or almost only find people of the opposite sex attractive, some people find individuals of either sex attractive, in a more or less even amount, and some find only people of their own sex attractive. That's simplified a good deal, and it really should be gender rather than sex, but . . .' I trail off with a slight shake of my head.

'Hun,' she says, `Thanks, I need to think about this a little bit.'

'If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.'

'Thanks, I will.'

_-_

Natsumi-chan has been spending a lot of time with Naru-chan, and both of them seem happier for it. I watch from a little ways away, glad my bondmate has found someone to hang out with again. Natsumi-chan manages to feed Naru-chan a piece from her bentou, and I turn back to my own, a faint warmth trying to creep up my neck and down from my ears.

A sudden thought rocks me, and I wonder if Seijuurou-kun knows that Motoki-san has a girlfriend. It isn't my business, I know, but it makes me worry a tiny bit.

'Hey, you,' Naru-chan greets me, `I think I'll be needing a witness in a few weeks here, you willing?'

I rock back on my heels, a little startled. 'Does she know what she's getting in to?'

Naru-chan blushes, 'What kind of a . . .' then trails off, fading back to her normal color, 'Yeah, we've talked about it, and she knows about Circe. Ann's shared her Name and true appearance with me. She proposed this, actually, and I just . . .' she shakes her head.

'If you're worried, you could just take a short-term oath, and renew it as needed,' I propose, feeling the small hole where that relationship used to be with mental fingers, hiding the wince that tries to escape.

'I'd forgotten all about that,' Naru-chan smiles up at me, suddenly glowing with happiness, and I return her hug.

I keep up the brave front until she's out of sight, then let it drop.

Finding a quiet corner I curl my arms around my knees, contemplating the blood bond we share, more than two people, but not quite one. Even without the taboos about intra-bond romantic relationships I don't think I could cope with the person I love knowing all of me in every stressfull situation. But, still, it hurts.

---  
log:  
1998: Much contemplation, and no writing  
1999 August 16: actually wrote the durn thing.  
1999 August 25: read and did a little bit of editing.  
2004 January 4: Title block.  
2009 June 15: editted to put up on ff.n


	6. The Girl Who Fell To Earth

#include "stddisclaimer.h"

Final Attempt VI  
The Girl Who Fell To Earth

A story by Suika Roberts, Saint of Eris Discordia  
Based on the work of Takahashi Rumiko, Takeuchi Naoko, Fujishima Kousuke, and others.

The three of us are walking in the park, although I'm feeling rather superfluous, since Usagi-chan and Rei-chan seem quite content with each other. I'm not sure why they invited me along, perhaps as camoflage, but at least Usagi-chan's mother knows about them, so that may not be it.

A crackling noise comes from ahead, and I turn from watching a small green caterpillar eat slowly at a leaf. Some strange sort of purplish-pink spacial distortion flares in time with the rumble, and a small girl falls headfirst out of it.

I charge forward, then slow as the girl rights herself with far more ease than I had expected, then somehow shifts herself in the air to drop lightly onto the ground in front of Usagi-chan and Rei-chan. She moves with a grace that belies her apparent age, the smooth, easy power of someone who's been practicing longer than I've been alive.

'Hi mom,' she says, looking at Rei-chan, then stretches up and kisses her on the cheek, 'Usagi,' she says then, turning to give Usagi-chan a firm clout on the arm.

'Who are you?' Rei-chan asks, stepping between Usagi-chan and the new girl.

'Oh, that's right. You haven't met me yet. Sorry,' the girl tugs one of the pink tails trailing from her long Odango, and I notice the darker roots for the first time. She looks about nine, and is wearing a skirted sailor-style outfit, 'I'm Hino Usagi, but please, call me Em.'

'Hino Usagi?'

'Em?'

'From the future, right?' I ask, at the same time as the other two.

'Yep. Won't tell you how far, though.' She makes a face, and I follow her gaze to Usagi-chan's, 'Yes, I'm your daughter.'

'How,'

'Did I know what you were going to ask?'

Usagi-chan nods.

'I read the incident report.' She starts laughing as Usagi-chan faults. 'Blessed Eris, I'd forgotten how much fun this is.'

'How old are you?' I ask, curious. I glance at Rei-chan, who's protectively almost-hovering over Usagi-chan.

'Older than I was last time I visited, which hasn't happened for you lot yet,' she smiles an almost familiar smile, then I finally recognize it as one of Obaba's.

'How much older?'

'Umm,' she rubs her cheek, `almost two hundred years. Picked up my fifth doctorate since then.'

Fifth. I blink. Usagi-chan's eyes roll back and she swoons, but Rei-chan catches her before she hits the ground.

'Well, I think that's enough fun here. Mako-chan, let's go visit your folks,' she suddenly grins, lacing her fingers together and stretching them out in front of herself, palms out, 'It's gonna be so much fun to kick Ranma-sensei's ass, even if it's gonna be the only time,' she starts towards the front of the park, then turns towards the other two, 'I'll see you later, 'K?'

Rei-chan manages a silent nod.

'Kick her ass?'

'Yeah, she's just too skilled back home, but for once I'm not only older, but better. She'll catch up by the end of this visit, though, so I gotta make it last.'

I look down at the little girl in front of me, and shake my head.

'Saotome Ranma, I give you proper challenge.'

Ranma-mama looks up from the book she's reading. 'And who are you, that gives challenge?' she replies, checking her page number before closing the book and standing.

'I am Hino Usagi, called Em by most, and your future student.'

'Future student?'

'Yeah. You've been teaching me since before I could walk, and done a very good job. However, in this time I am the more experienced martial artist, and I'm gonna take advantage of that. So, be warned, I won't go too easy on you.'

'Really?' Ranma-mama almost doesn't shift.

Em almost doesn't shift to answer.

Ranma-mama almost doesn't shift again.

Em kicks her in the head. I blink, startled to see someone take down Ranma-mama so easily, and miss half of what remains of the fight. Within the time it would have taken me to blink again Em has Ranma-mama on the ground, her arm twisted almost up to her shoulder blades.

'You're good. How long have I been teaching you?'

'Not quite three hundred and fifty eight years.' I blink, keeping it from turning into a fault through force of will.

log:  
1999 Nov 7: started  
2004 Jan 4: Title Block added  
2009 Jun 23: uploaded to ff.n


	7. Aum Shinrikyou

#include "stddisclaimer.h"

Final Attempt VII  
Aum Shinrikyou

A story by Suika Roberts, Saint of Eris Discordia  
Based on the work of Takahashi Rumiko, Takeuchi Naoko, Fujishima Kousuke, and others.

'Mercury, take out the door,' Moon tells her, standing to one side, the camera crew watching from further back.

'Right!' she sprints towards the door, her skirt flaring. She gives it a single double-footed kick, and it explodes out of its frame into the room.

She lands with a soft click of bootheels, her short hair swishing against her face, as the foam-core steel door slams into a pillar. Shouts arise from inside, and she steps through, her pair of automatic pistols in hand.

'Down on the floor, hands on your heads, NOW!' she barks, and there is a quick scrabble, as all of the warm bodies in the room comply.

'OK, that's the last of them,' Moon says, softly.

'Which them?' the reporter asks.

'The ones directly involved in the attack. Everyone else will be released after I deal with these ones, and do a bit of spot-checking amoung the rest.'

'Deal with them?'

'The enforcement treaty gives me that privilege. Anyone who endangers Dark Kingdom citizens while breaking Japanese law and the rules of the Dark Kingdom may, at the whim of the Special Police, be dealt with under the rules.'

'Which means?' the reporter asks, as she follows Moon into room.

'That means,' Moon says, kneeling next to one of the men on the floor, 'None of these people will leave this room, if what I fear is correct.'

She takes a deep breath, then places her hand on the cowering man's head.

He goes still, his body relaxing.

'They were trying to destabilize things, to prepare for the end of the world. This one fully believed that he was doing the right thing,' she says, then makes a face.

'Done,' and she stands, walking to the next person on the floor.

The process is repeated twelve more times, then we move to the holding room, where people in Dark Kingdom Militia uniforms stand watch over the rest of the prisoners. The rest of the cult leaders are sitting, staring white-eyed at the youkai Militia personnel.

She deals with them much faster, taking less time between them.

Finally done, she turns to the reporter, 'As per the rules, the people who perpetrated the cowardly, criminal poison gas attack this morning are no more, their personalities shredded and rebuilt as I saw fit.

'The rules are clear, and anyone who choses not to follow them risks much.'

--- Log:  
Eris knows (Probably 1998): Started  
2004 Jan 4: Title block and log  
2009 Jul 5: Tiny Edit, prepped for posting to ff.n


	8. Graf Zepplin

#include "stddisclaimer.h"

Final Attempt VIII  
Graf Zepplin

A story by Suika Roberts, Saint of Eris Discordia  
Based on the work of Takahashi Rumiko, Takeuchi Naoko, Fujishima Kousuke, and others.

'Yaah!' Moon screaches, dodging, as the illegal machine-gun in the minion's hands chases her back, the uncontrolled, random fire keeping the rest of our force down.

'Moon!' Mars yells, quietly sending a jet of flame after the machine-gunner.

The machine-gunner cackles, spraying the area with yet more bullets. The Daimon continues to rampage, taking the occasional stray rounds, which splash off of its skin, leaving shiny silver spots.

There is a sudden, soft "crack" noise, somewhat wet, and the gunfire stops.

I look, and see an almost familiar figure walking away from the crumpled form of the minion, and I jump up to follow. The minion's head is almost twisted all the way around.

'Hey,' I start, when I catch up.

The figure turns, 'I said to leave me alone, Jupiter. I need time to deal, OK? I'll help if I can, but I just don't trust myself, and you should know why, what with the recent demonstration, right?'

'Talk to us, we're your friends.'

'Later, maybe. Tell Usa- Moon, that I miss her, and thanks again for that pen,' the figure turns and walks away, warped from the carefree girl I knew by both tragedy and magic, ever since then.

'Was that?' Usa -- Moon, puts her hand on my shoulder, and I turn to look down into her eyes.

'Yeah, that was her. She said thanks again for the disguise pen.'

'So, whatever happened--'

'We know what happened, to at least a certain degree,' I interrupt her, 'At least Yui's alive, and recovering. I don't know if Minako ever will.'

'She's strong,' Moon hugs me, `It will take a while, though. The minion wasn't all the way dead, Misa,' I look at her, 'the medic, thinks she'll be OK shortly.'

'Maybe we'll get some answers as to what this lot is after.'

'Mercury hopes so.'

-8-

'We can't isolate them -- we can only say that they're within a six kilometer radius of here,' she taps the map, 'on Thor's data, and the portable sensors aren't sensitive enough.'

'I thought the Thors in eliptical orbits came within three hundred kilometers of here -- isn't that close enough for better data?'

'Only if one of them is overhead when it is needed, when they transform. We only have a hundred and twelve eliptics and sixteen geosyncs.'

'And the geosyncs are giving us over a hundred square kilometers to look through. Didn't I authorize the extra 896 eliptics you wanted?'

'Yeah, but we diverted them to Wonderland since the UN raised such a stink. Wonderland is fully outfitted now, so the ones currently being manufactured are earmarked for Earth orbit. The first should be done next month.'

'Too long -- Can we throw a sensor pack on some sort of ballon or helicopter?'

'That'd work, I think. We can get something that would work by next week if we divert production from elsewhere.'

'That will find us our foreign sailors. What about the Daimon? And what are they all looking for?'

'Don't know where the Daimon are coming from, but the women controling them and the other senshi are looking for something attached to the heart crystals of people with 'pure hearts', three talismans for a Messiah.'

'Not good. She was babbling something about a "Messiah of Silence" too.'

'There are supposed to be two different Messiahs, and whichever gets the talismans will determine the fate of the world.'

'Very bad. All we need, to know that this isn't just a clusterfuck, but a bounding clusterfuck, is for Em to arrive.'

'You called?' Em rubs the back of her head.

Usagi bangs her head on the table.

'Can you tell us why you're here?'

'Yeah, they,' she waves towards Moon, `Say I need "polish" or something. And you said that I needed to meet someone, and all of you said that I'm going to pretend to be a middle-schooler at someplace called "Mugen." What fun.'

-8-

'These things are getting--' Moon's comment about the Daimon we're facing is cut off with an 'Ooof!' by a small figure landing on her shoulders and knocking her out of the way.

The figure is wearing what looks like a black and white, with maybe some grey, dazzle-camo, and is holding some sort of sub machine gun.

I notice that because a line of rounds stitch their way up the Daimon's torso, and I get a brief glimpse of it, as long as the girl's forearm, pistol-grip at the front, action at the back, long barrel at the top, long clip along the bottom, which she is holding with her left hand, probably to steady the weapon.

Then, in a familiar hidden-weapons move, it disappears, and she jumps today's minion, a woman named Eudial, at least, she matches the discription Kaolinite gave us.

The figure kicks Eudial in the head three times in an impossible capoera combination before griping her by the arm and pressing her face into the dirt, one hand at her elbow, the other intwined with her fingers, ready to bend the joint backwards, 'Do you yield?'

Eudial doesn't respond.

'Oh. They said you were tougher than most, but still not very,' she sounds disgusted, 'Hope I didn't do too much damage there,' she continues, turning to Moon after dropping the unconscious woman's arm.

'Eighteen thirteen. You said I should make sure you remember that.'

I check my watch. 18:14.

'Em?'

'Pin-pon!' she says, and pulls her balaclava off, revealing dark reddish hair, tied up in somewhat bedraggled odango.

'What did you hit the Daimon with?' Mercury asks, scanning the remains.

'Six forty-five caliber hypersonic blessed silver-plated duranium rounds.'

'And the gun?'

'A GWSR 13, rev. C, which was the first one that didn't-- no, you said not to tell you that. Or let you get too good of a look at it.'

Mercury actually laughs, 'OK, I won't.'

-8-

'How many are in your group?'

'Lots! We've got Professor Tomoe, who talks to Mistress Nine. We've got Mimette, who hates me, and Terruru too, and you just got Eudial, and that leaves whatshername, and Hotaru, but she isn't really, since we need to keep her in the dark on all of this. We'd do better if we had henches, but Pharoh 90 has told us not to let too many people know, and we're living off what the Professor can embezzle from Mugen, which really isn't much, considering that we have to pay for equipment and everything. It would be much easier if the Dark Kingdom gave us a grant, but no, the Professor says there's no time for a grant app, no time to put heart crystals back, no time to have sex anymore, not time for anything anymore, but he stays up all night and giggles without _doing_ anything. It sucks,' Kaolinite finally winds down.

'It's the way she is -- the healer swears all she did was convince her we could be trusted. Her scans,' Ami waves at the monitors, 'Say the same. They also say she's a little cracked, and a lot hyperactive.'

'She seemed very calm when Gen-Minako took her down.'

'Whenever someone not on her list of trusted people comes in she locks it all up. I think that's why she's cracked.'

'Who else does she trust?'

'Only us three.'

'Ouch. And she doesn't really trust us.'

'She really trusts us, she just didn't arrive at that naturally.'

'I feel bad enough about messing with her like this. We will not betray that trust,' Usagi leans her forehead against the two-way mirror.

-8-

Sixty members of the Dark Kingdom special police, along with three Sailors easily occupy Professor Tomoe's house, capturing the professor, his equipment, and two more members of the Witches' Five.

Em stays with Hotaru.

The last of the Witches' Five is captured in her home, along with the last of their equipment.

-8-

'My papa was grooming me to host a space monster and destroy the world,' Hotaru's tone is flat.

'Unfortunately, yes. He was under the influence of another space monster but still . . . '

'Yeah,' Hotaru looks down, distraught, then brightens cautiously, `You said was?'

'Yep. King Serenity broke the link, and he's himself again. Mostly. No way of telling when he'll be ready to face the world again, unfortunately,' Em says, placing her hand over Hotaru's.

'Can I see him?'

'I think he'd like that.'

-8-

'A mylar-skinned copy of the Graf Zepplin. Cargo cap is high enough?' Usagi asks.

'Yep. It masses about eighty tons less than the original.'

'You didn't mess up the balance or anything, did you?'

'I did, but Carrera caught it,' she indicates one of her assistants with her chin.

'That's good. The sensor pack is installed?'

'And the autopilot. We flew her around a little, and she tests good to go.'

'Launch and gate her into place, then. We need to find out what is up with these other Sailors.'

The Zepplin moves slowly, gracefully out of the hanger, over the dark blue grass, her wheels not touching, unducted fans barely turning. The UDFs spin up, and the Zepplin soars from the ground.

-8-

'It's been a week, and not a hint of them. If we ask Kaolinite--'

'I don't want to risk her.'

'She's getting worried that we don't trust her.'

'Oh,' Usagi sighs, `Ask her.'

-8-

'Who do I zap? That tall one? He looks really studious . . .'

'Me.'

'You?!' she is stricken, `But what if those nasty, mean Sailors grab your heart crystal? You'd die! I can't!'

'If they look like they are going to grab my heart crystal, zap them too, OK? I trust you not to lose my heart crystal.'

'You mustn't! I'm a fuckup, you know that--'

'No,' Usagi cuts her off, `you aren't. But if they prove too much, we have Special Police covering your back. I want to know you pulled this off, though,' a peculiar noise comes from the ready-to-hatch daimon, happily ensconced in a worn-out MX boot, 'The daimon is hatching. Can I trust you?' Usagi smiles, encouraging.

Kaolinite nods, adjusts her costume, shifts the gun in her hand, 'You can, I swear it.'

'Good.'

The daimon hatches, a giant armored, blue and white, form, and starts wreaking havoc. The Dark Kingdom containment team, dressed as civilians, mill around screaming and trying not to look like they are enjoying it.

Kaolinite makes a nervious face, aims the gun, and extracts Usagi's heart crystal. It glows so brightly the sunlight seems to pale, and Kaolinite gasps. She takes it in her hand, the other still on the pistol-grip of the gun, and separates something from it. Holding that under her thumb, she goes to return Usagi's heart crystal.

'WORLD SHAKING!'

Kaolinite slaps the heart crystal against Usagi's chest, and rolls away. Usagi misses the full force of the attack, Kaolinite is knocked on her ass, and the Daimon roars in outrage at being completely missed.

'Deep Submerge!'

Kaolinite rolls onto her belly, aims, and fires, extracting the taller Sailor's heart crystal.

The shorter screams, 'Haru--Uranus!' and charges towards Kaolinite, forgetting tactics in her rage and fear.

Kaolinite pulls the trigger, staying up until the heart crystal is extracted, then, with a faint sigh, passes out, her costume slick with her blood.

Usagi revives with ginger movements, holding her head still as she gets to her hands and knees.

She notices the torn pavement, and the strange object. She forces herself to her feet, taking the strange object in hand.

A quick glance around and she takes charge, 'You numbnuts! Stop playing with the daimon, and tend to Kaolinite!'

She staggers over, and grabs Uranus's heart crystal, the Talisman separating at her touch. She pats the heart crystal back into the tall blonde's chest, who groans, shaking her head.

Walking more steadily she grabs the other Sailor's heart crystal, and makes a face when the Talisman separates. The green-haired woman's heart crystal sinks back into her chest, and she opens her eyes with a groan, 'Haruka?'

'No, but a friend, anyway.'

'Michiru?' the other woman calls.

The green-haired woman tries to call back, but starts coughing instead.

'Over here,' Usagi calls, helping Michiru to her feet. She staggers them both over to where Haruka is forcing herself to her feet.

The two exhausted women collapse into each others arms, and watch while the containment team cages the daimon and hauls it away, another team fixing the broken asphault, a medic, exhausted, her blue and red uniform dark and shiny with blood, kneeling next to Kaolinite.

'Is she OK?' Usagi asks her, holding her henshin pen.

'She'll be fine, after she gets some fluid in her. I'm about to lose my glamour from exhaustion, though,' the medic smiles tiredly.

Without a word Usagi transforms straight to King Serenity, grey uniform and all. Haruka and Michiru watch as she lays hands on the medic, who loses her grey tinge, still bloody but no longer exhausted.

'What happened? I'd've expected you out here as soon as the danger backed down,' King Serenity's tone is gentle, questioning.

'The containment team chief blocked me.'

'Oh,' King Serenity's tone turns icy, `CHIEF!'

'Yes?' the chief is a pretty woman, except for her expression, which is sour as spoiled milk.

'Did you block this medic from her duty?'

'Yes.'

'Why?' King Serenity's voice has turned so softly menacing that even the medic cringes.

The chief somehow doesn't notice, 'It was only a few non-citizens.'

Jaws drop and all work stops.

The chief hastens to explain, 'You yourself have said that any citizen is worth more than any non-citizen,' she stammers a little, realizing now how big a hole she's in.

'One of the reasons for that is that we behave in accordance to the Rules. Rule three.'

'"I will not needlessly endanger anyone else by my actions,"' the chief recites.

'Medics are trained to assess the risk to themselves, by themselves. If a medic says they are going to gate into a star without a suit on a rescue, you make sure they know that there is no air, and that the energy densities are high enough to kill, then you let them go. Do not impede a medic again.'

The chief gulps, 'Yes,'

'You should think about visiting a mind-healer -- your attitude is a danger to yourself and others.'

'I will,' the chief looks shaken.

King Serenity starts after Kaolinite and the medic, returning to being Usagi after a few steps. She slips under Kaolinite's other arm, helping to support her up a side-street. A few meters past the corner is an unmarked red van, the door of which slides open as they approach.

'You OK?' Rei asks, `You seem to be, but . . .'

'I've gotten good at feigning it. I'm fine, Kaolinite needs food and fluid rather badly,' She gestures behind her, 'Those two need some sugar.'

The medic preps an IV, and sticks Kaolinite.

Usagi grabs a bottle of gatorade out of the bottom of the fridge, which is under the monitors, 'What flavor do you want? We have,' she looks under the medical supplies, 'green, blue, orange, and purple.'

'Hardly what one would expect from the ruler of the new superpower.'

'I never asked for the job,' she cracks her own bottle, and drains half of it at a gulp, 'What flavor?'

'Green,' Haruka says.

'Purple.'

Usagi hands one over, and Rei the other.

A phone rings, and Usagi grabs her watch, pressing one of the gems on it's ornate face. The crystal fogs, clears to Ami's face, 'Found three. Two right on you, one here,' a tiny map with a tiny blinking dot replaces her face, 'I'm guessing you found the two right there.'

'Yep. All three Talismans, too.'

'Great. Now we just need two Messiahs and we can call this one over. Ick!' Ami makes a face.

'Very. Talk to you later.'

'Later.'

'As you heard, I have all three talismans. Why were you looking for them?'

'Sailor Pluto told us we had to find them, or the Silence would come and destroy the Earth.'

'With the two of you running around playing superhero you were much less likely to be recognized as the "pure hearts" her,' she points to Kaolinite with her chin, 'old crew were looking for. I certainly wouldn't have pegged myself,' she looks at her hands, 'as one of them.'

She looks up, 'Do you know the rules?'

Both nod.

'Swear to follow them, and you're free to go -- I will return your Talismans after Ami has a chance to look at them.'

'I swear upon my honor as a Sailor,' Haruka speaks up.

'I do as well.'

'Say the words, Michiru,' Usagi tells her.

'I swear to obey the rules.'

'Would you like a ride home?'

Haruka looks for a moment like she's going to decline, but Michiru speaks first, 'Please.'

-8-

'You did good,' Usagi tells Kaolinite.

'I did?' Kaolinite sounds surprised, `I got one of them, but the other . . . '

'You got her too. Nearly bought it before the medic got to you, but you accomplished the mission in a heroic fashion, and survived. Good job.'

'Thank you,' Kaolinite smiles, and lays back in her bed.

-8-

Em solves part of the Messiah problem, 'Oh, that's you, Usagi.'

'Fuck me. Gently. With a chainsaw,' Usagi mutters the quote in responce.

-8-

Hotaru steps in front of the oncoming car, and knocks it aside, away from the little boy, and the pile of kittens he is trying to get out of the street. Half a second later Usagi has all thirteen of them on the curb.

'The mark was like this,' Usagi draws it, `I think she's a Sailor, that is why the Death Busters needed her.'

'Saturn, the Sailor of Silence.'

'Flaming big clue, Luna-chan.'

'I only just remembered, Usagi,' Luna hangs her head in mock-shame anyway.

-8-

'The UN can bite us. Launch them.'

'All of them?'

'The planned 896. Keep the others on hand in case someone blows one or more of them.'

'I don't think there is a terrestrial weapons system that could take one of them out.'

'We don't only have to worry about terrestrial threats.'

'True.'

---  
log:  
Most of 2000: plotting  
2001 Jan 12: wrote the first bit  
2002 Apr 13: wrote more, paper draft.  
2002 Jun 9: edit, typed in paper draft.  
2003 Apr 8: tiny edit.  
2003 Aug 31: another tiny edit  
2004 Jan 4: Tiny edit, title block  
2009 Jul 12: Tiny edits, mauled for posting to ff.n


	9. Skyhooks

#include "stddisclaimer.h"

Final Attempt IX  
Skyhooks

A story by Suika Roberts, Saint of Eris Discordia Based on the work of Takahashi Rumiko, Takeuchi Naoko, Fujishima Kousuke, and others.

*

'Is that?' the tall, red haired woman asks Ami-chan.

'Prototype,' Ami-chan answers with a smile, and I look at the woman again, wondering what induced such a responce.

'May I?'

'Sure,' and Ami-chan hands over her sidearm.

I blink. The woman's wearing a Ctholon Militia uniform, but even so. I watch them for a little while, and the sudden smile on the woman's face when Ami-chan softly touches her hand smacks me over the head with a clue-by-four.

Ami-chan's answering smile loosens most of my remaining worries.

'So,' I ask, settling myself at Ami-chan's side, `Who's she?'

'Senior Lieutenant Clarence Cyan,' she smiles as she says the name.

'Clarence?' Ifurita asks, settling firmly against my back, her head possesive on my shoulder.

'Clarence. Big Gold, as a control measure, only allowed Cthulu born under her domination a vat number, sequence number, and line name. One of the first things done after the Ctholon recieved landing clearance was allowing all of the unnamed to claim a personal name. A few, after figuring out what they chose, changed them, but a lot of them decided that they like having strange names.'

'Ah. So that is why people just ask if I'm Ctholon, and only look confused after I tell them that I am not.'

'You could have asked me,' I tell her, shifting my hand to rest on her hip.

'It didn't bother me much.'

I turn back to the source of the gossip I came over to pursue, 'And how did you meet her?'

'She was assigned to negotiate with me on Genom building them some giant robot parts.'

Pulling teeth, 'And why did they need to do that?'

'Because I'd quoted them, Nagisa's secretary, actually, an absotively unreasonable price.'

'To drive them off?'

'To make them haggle. She just took it, and then didn't get back to me, and the next time I heard anything about it was the Delga incident in New Orleans. That kinda pissed me off, since I really had thought that Nagisa would know to try and haggle with me, or at least to ask for a few samples to prove the quality.

'So, I called her up, said to send someone over, and we'd try to figure out what to do about their giant robot situation. Prima apparently suggested Cyan, and Nagisa agreed, and a couple days later I met her.

'She just stood there for several minutes, staring, when she walked in. I thought it was really amusing, so I just sat there and smiled at her until she got herself under control,' Ami-chan smiles.

'She was all a-giggle there for a few moments, after she got done staring, going on about how she had all of my albums, all of the posters with my picture on them, a model of Betsy, and owned a low-numbered B.A.R.

'I thought that was a little much, but I didn't tell her so,' her smile twists a little, 'Instead I made her tell me what she was there for, hand over the plans, and told her that samples would be shipped within two weeks.'

Something in the set of her eyes, a twinkle maybe, clued me in, 'You made them out of DK7, didn't you.'

'DK9, actually,' she puts on a sober face, `It wouldn't do to provide inferior samples, now, would it?' and then she giggles.

'So, did you hit on her then, or when she came back after the samples were delivered?'

'Oh, I just flirted, and accepted her invite to dinner when she finally gathered her courage enough.'

'How's Betsy taking it?'

'Cyan loves her. Takes half the time to do any of the old girl's maintence now.'

I nod, glad, 'That's good. It'd be a shame if Betsy was ignored because you got yourself a new girlfriend.'

'Worst comes to worst I'm sure I could talk Keiichi and Megumi into taking her out occasionally, but this way is nice.'

'So, is this as permanent as it seems?' Ifurita asks, her hand slipping off my hip to cover my hand on hers, stopping the small circling motions.

'Probably,' Ami-chan has a strange look on her face, and it takes me a while to place it, since I've not seen it in five years. Fear.

'She really seems taken with you,' I offer.

'That just means it'll hurt more when it falls appart,' she almost whispers, staring at the table-top.

'The more you worry about how much . . . ' Ifurita trails off, `It often hurts a lot more to worry about chopping your arm off at the shoulder than it does to actually do it.'

Ami-chan blinks at her, then starts laughing, eventually calming again. 'That's a good way of looking at it, I suppose.'

---  
log:  
2000 August 15: Started  
2000 Sept 21:continued  
2001 Feb 8:much continued


End file.
